Heidelberg Commits to Becoming Climate Neutral by 2030

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG is redoubling its activities in sustainability management. Against the backdrop of the global challenges caused by climate change, and as part of its sustainability strategy, Heidelberg has made a commitment to become climate neutral by 2030.

To help achieve this goal, the company has set up an Environmental Social Governance (ESG) panel, which is responsible for developing strategy and defining, implementing, and monitoring the associated measures. The panel is headed by Dr. Eva Boll, who reports directly to the CEO.

“Heidelberg is well aware of its responsibilities regarding the dangers posed by global climate change and affirms the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement,” said Heidelberg  CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer. “For many years, we have been actively working to gradually minimize harmful emissions and reduce the health and environmental impact of our sites. We have now made a further commitment to ensuring our worldwide production and distribution sites are operating on a climate-neutral basis by 2030, which is earlier than required by legislation.”

Initially, the focus is on increasing energy efficiency at all production and distribution sites and supplying these sites with green energy. This alone will lead to a clear reduction in CO2 emissions. The company will then use emissions certificates to offset the residual, unavoidable emissions.

However, the ESG sustainability strategy at Heidelberg extends far beyond the issue of climate neutrality. The company sees sustainability as a long-term balance between the environment, business, and social responsibility and is focusing on the areas of climate strategy, environmentally friendly products, sustainable HR management, compliance, and good governance.

“Heidelberg has made a commitment to sustainable HR management geared toward issues such as new work, demography management, inclusion and diversity, health management, and employer branding,” explains Marcus A. Wassenberg, CFO and chief human resources officer at Heidelberg. “After all, a growing number of financial market players are putting more emphasis on sustainability management as a key criterion for future investment decisions.”

Human rights issues and environmental considerations are also to be anchored throughout the entire value chain, which includes all the suppliers to the Heidelberg Group.

“The holistic approach adopted by Heidelberg in its sustainability management activities is not just an expression of our sense of responsibility. Thanks to the decarbonization solutions that are integral to this approach, it also opens up new growth opportunities for the company in a whole range of sectors, even outside our core business,” Hundsdörfer points out.

The topic of sustainability has been a core aspect of corporate strategy at Heidelberg since the early 1990s.

The company has had an accredited environmental management system in place since 1996 and has been certified to ISO 14001 since 2001. Another milestone is the efficiency optimization of the exceptionally energy-intensive foundry at the Amstetten site. For instance, Heidelberg has been able to demonstrably improve energy efficiency at this site by more than 20% since 2012.

There has been an energy concept at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site for many years. Steps such as building two cogeneration plants and the current measures to reduce square footage are also having a beneficial impact on the site’s energy balance.